Gerald Martiniuk, (August 5, 1937 – May 2, 2017) was a

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

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, Canada. He was a Progressive Conservative member of the

Legislative Assembly of Ontario The Legislative Assembly of Ontario (OLA, french: Assemblée législative de l'Ontario) is the legislative chamber of the Canadian province of Ontario. Its elected members are known as Members of Provincial Parliament (MPPs). Bills passed by ...

from 1995 to 2011 who represented the southern Ontario riding of

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Background

Martiniuk was born on August 5, 1937 in

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. He was educated at

Lawrence Park Collegiate Institute Lawrence Park Collegiate Institute (''Lawrence Park CI'', ''LPCI'', "LP", or ''Lawrence Park'') is a semestered, public high school institution with over 1,267 students enrolled. The school is located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It teaches grade ...

University of Western Ontario The University of Western Ontario (UWO), also known as Western University or Western, is a Public university, public research university in London, Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on of land, surrounded by resident ...

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...

(Political Science and Economics) and

Osgoode Hall Law School Osgoode Hall Law School, commonly shortened to Osgoode, is the law school of York University in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The law school is home to the Law Commission of Ontario, the Journal of Law and Social Policy, and the ''Osgoode Hall La ...

Politics

Martiniuk began his career at the municipal level, serving as a school trustee on the Waterloo County Board of Education, an

alderman An alderman is a member of a Municipal government, municipal assembly or council in many Jurisdiction, jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council membe ...

in Preston, and chair of the Waterloo Regional Police Commission. In the 1995 provincial election, he was elected in the riding of

over incumbent

New Democrat New Democrats, also known as centrist Democrats, Clinton Democrats, or moderate Democrats, are a centrist ideological faction within the Democratic Party in the United States. As the Third Way faction of the party, they are seen as culturall ...

Mike Farnan Michael Liam Farnan (born January 29, 1941) is a former politician in Ontario, Canada. He was a New Democratic Party member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1987 to 1995, and was a cabinet minister in the government of Bob Rae. Back ...

. He was easily re-elected in the 1999 election, defeating

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

Jerry Boyle by over 14,000 votes. In 1998 he was appointed as

Parliamentary Assistant In UK politics, a parliamentary assistant is an unelected partisan member of staff employed by a Member of Parliament (MP) to assist them with their parliamentary duties. Parliamentary assistants usually work at the House of Commons in the U ...

to the Attorney General. The PCs were defeated in the provincial election of 2003, although Martiniuk was again re-elected, this time defeating Boyle by just over 3000 votes. He served as opposition critic for several portfolios including Labour, Consumer and Business Services, Community and Social Services Critic and Seniors. In 2004, he supported

John Tory John Howard Tory (born May 28, 1954) is a Canadian politician who has served as the 65th and current mayor of Toronto since 2014. After a career as a lawyer, political strategist and businessman, Tory ran as a mayoral candidate in the 2003 ...

's successful bid replace Ernie Eves as provincial PC leader. Martiniuk was again elected in the provincial election of 2007 with a plurality of 3243. He served as the critic for Revenue and Seniors. In 2008 he supported Tim Hudak's successful PC leadership bid. In 2011, he introduced the Ukrainian Heritage Bill which sets September 7 as ''Ukrainian Heritage Day'' in Ontario to mark the anniversary of the arrival of the first Ukrainian immigrants to Canada in 1891. The bill was passed on March 30, 2011. On October 14, 2010, Martiniuk announced his decision not to run in 2011 election.

Affiliations

He was a director of the St. John Ambulance, Cambridge United Way, Preston-Hespeler Rotary Club, Trinity Community Table, Preston YMCA, Chair, Conestoga College Advisory Committee on Criminology before entering provincial politics, and served as president of the Cambridge Chamber of Commerce.

Personal life/death

He and his wife Christine raised four children. He died in

Cambridge, Ontario Cambridge is a city in the Regional Municipality of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, located at the confluence of the Grand River (Ontario), Grand and Speed River, Speed rivers. The city had a population of 138,479 as of the 2021 Canadian census, 202 ...

at the age of 79.

Electoral record

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Martiniuk, Gerry 1938 births 2017 deaths 21st-century Canadian politicians Canadian people of Ukrainian descent Osgoode Hall Law School alumni Politicians from Cambridge, Ontario Politicians from Toronto Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario MPPs University of Toronto alumni University of Western Ontario alumni